The Shooters

Then I drove on to Parchman Farm, where Bukka White served time for manslaughter ("...sef defense," he told me) and literally sang his way to freedom (the Governor dug it and pardoned him). There are no fences around Parchman, just twenty thousand acres of cotton fields covering some forty-six square miles. Cotton farming there is now pretty much all mechanized. But up until about fifteen years ago, inmates worked the fields, divided into gangs of one hundred each (The Long Line). They were guarded by six groups-of-two of their fellows, Trustee Guards, who were picked from the population because of their bad attitude, toughness and brutality. They were armed. One carried a shotgun and the other carried a 30-30 Winchester. They were called the Shooters.

If someone tried to cut and run, the first shot was fired by the shotgun Shooter, aimed low, at the legs. If he missed, or the escapee kept going, the next shot came from the 30-30 and was a shoot-to-kill round. If the runner died, the Shooters were given a pardon for "meritorious service" (God's truth...). The men in the work gang were called Gunmen (because they worked "under the gun"). Each gang had a lead man known as the Caller. He set the rhythm and pace of the work with call-and-response verses. A newspaperman who once heard this reported that the response was "…a sound that could literally knock you off your feet."